New and original theories of the great physical forces

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NEW AND ORIGINAL

THEORIES

GREAT PHYSICAL FORCES.

BY

HENRY RAYMOND ROGERS, M.D.

" Every time
Serves for the matter then born in it. "

SHAKSPERB.

PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR.
MDCCCLXXVIII.

COPYRIGHT, 1878.
BY HENRY RAYMOND ROGERS.

TROW'S

PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING Co.,
205-213 East i2ift St.t

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Gl/73

PREFACE.

" Show me a man who makes no mistakes, and I will show you a
man who has done nothing." — LlEBIG.

IN this little volume the author gives but his
own personal opinions upon the subjects discussed,
and although the sentiments are expressed with
an assurance born of conviction, yet he claims not
infallibility.

He has ever been unable to accept the usual
explanations of the great physical forces ; and the
inadequacies of mooted theories have impelled
him to efforts for more philosophical interpreta-
tions. If in his investigations he has been forced
to strange and unusual conclusions, he has been
actuated only by an honest desire to promote the
advancement of science.

He is not insensible to the responsibility of the
position which he thus voluntarily assumes, in
asserting his opinions upon problems so vast and
momentous.

It is no enviable position to occupy, that of

viii Preface.

antagonism to so large a proportion of the scien-
tific world and, too, upon subjects of strictly
scientific import. That he does thus find himself
placed in such relations at the present time, has not
been a matter of his own seeking. No other con-
sideration than the profoundest sense of duty and
responsibility could have influenced him in the
course pursued. Perhaps some apology is yet
due for so boldly trespassing upon hypotheses
which were very generally thought to be well
established, and certainly secure from such treat-
ment.

The attempt, in a measure, to develop so ex-
tended a field of research, in so few pages, has led
to much crudeness in the presentation. For this
a reasonable indulgence may be claimed.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

PAGE

THE SUN 17

CHAPTER II.

WHAT is PROPOSED , 20

The great problem.

CHAPTER III.
INTIMATE NATURE OF THE FORCES 24

Sunlight and sun-heat — The great law of conserva-
tion— How the spheres are constructed — The great
earth- core and its functions — The grand magnetic
circuit.

CHAPTER IV.
SUNLIGHT, ITS SOURCE AND NATURE 29

Its limits — The solar cone— The sun not incandescent
— New hypothesis — No borrowed light — The sun
dependent — Light as a substance — Velocity of
Light.

I*

Contents.

CHAPTER V.

PAGE

SUN-HEAT, ITS SOURCE AND LIMITS 35

Tendencies to unsettle in science — Present theories
— True source — Earth's part in the process — Sun's
part — New philosophy — Old phenomena and new
interpretations — Aurorae — Well understood pro-
cesses in confirmation — The ordinary battery — The
Great -Sun Battery — Heat without combustion —
Intercurrents — Solution of the problem.

CHAPTER VI.
THE SEASONS 47

Why their varying temperature? — A new philosophy.

CHAPTER VII.
GRAVITY 50

Its essential nature and its source.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE ATMOSPHERE 52

A veritable ocean — How constituted — The vito-mag-
netic principle, its extent and character— Its func-
tions— The air not yet comprehended — Have we
been mistaken ? — New light — Electrical induction —
Its mode of action and illustrations — The character
and virtue of the vito-magnetic element.

Contents. xi

CHAPTER IX.

PAGE

WINDS 59

Entertained theories erroneous — Their true character
— What gives rise to the currents — Purely vito-
magnetic phenomena — Philosophical considerations
drawn from observation — Whirlwinds, water-
spouts, and tornadoes — The Barbadoes — Manu-
factured wind — Wind within a wind — Winds may
not arise from presumed causes — A great cosmical
system.

CHAPTER X,
SUN-SPOTS 70

Old theories — Degrees of spot-shadow overestimated
--What spots are not, and what they are — They
are caused by magnetic perturbations — Inconsist-
ency of accepted theories — Figures that are decep-
tive— Effects of these wonderful phenomena — Mis-
taken conceptions— May not be tabulated— Unbi-
assed estimate of their character and location.

CHAPTER XI.

SOUNDS, AND THEIR TRANSMISSION 77

Essential character and mode of progression — Waves
have no act or part in their conveyance.

CHAPTER XII.
SOME OF THE RESULTS OF THE FOREGOING THEORIES. 79

Extent and character of their influence — Old chan-
nels obliterated, and new ones developed — Senti-

xii Contents.

merits changed — Nebular hypothesis — The sun
cool, luminous, and habitable — Celestial spectro-
scopy — Undulatory theories ignored — Light instan-
taneously transmitted — Telephone — No light nor
heat wasted — Extent of the atmosphere of the
spheres — The sun's power overestimated.

CHAPTER XIII.

INFLUENCE OF THE FORCES AS CAUSATION OF DIS-
EASE 84

Meteorological influence — Higher appreciation of the
source of disease, and increased efficiency in its
treatment.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE ARTIFICIAL PRODUCTION OF LIGHT, HEAT,
AND POWER, AND THEIR UTILIZATION 87

CHAPTER XV.

WHY WAS NOT THIS DISCOVERY SOONER MADE ? 90

Its consummation nearly perfected by many others —
Its successful accomplishment plainly foretold by
Faraday.

APPENDIX 95

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

I. — THE SOLAR CONE, OR CONE-SPACE 30

II. — THE SEASONS. SUMMER , 48

III.— " " WINTER 49

IV. — MANUFACTURED WIND. (From DESCHANEL'S

Natural Philosophy) 66

"If we suppose the sun and fixed stars to be gigantic fountains
of magnetic influence, acting upon our globe and its atmosphere,
and likewise upon all the other planets, the phenomena of the uni-
verse would then become susceptible of the grandest and simplest
interpretations." — CROSSLAND.

" Are not the sun and fixed stars great earths vehemently hot ? "
— NEWTON.

" Herschel's fixed idea was that the darkness of a spot upon the
sun was an indication of a cool and habitable globe." — HUMBOLDT.

"The sun as the main source of light and heat must be able to
call forth and animat^e magnetic forces on our planet." — Ibid.

THE

GREAT PHYSICAL FORCES.

CHAPTER L
INTRODUCTORY,

The Sun.

THE sun's position in the great field of
energy is daily becoming more exalted in the
estimation of philosophic minds. His labors
are being revealed to us with a distinctness
never before conceived. He it is that stored
the coal in the bosom of the earth, and piled
up the polar ice. He it is that aids the chem-
ist, drives the engine, ripens the harvest,, dis-
penses life and health.

The study of the sun and solar physics,
therefore, must be essential to the right un-
derstanding of whatever we observe to take
place at the earth. Sun and earth are united
in indissoluble bonds. In philosophic minds

1 8 New Theories of the Great Forces,

the conviction of a most perfect inter-depend-
ence is rapidly gaining ground.

All this has been known and appreciated
to a degree, yet this great source of universal
operations is shrouded in mystery. Still, our
curiosity has been kindled, and men are
eagerly looking for further developments.

Natural Science, in all her branches, is fully
awake, and is on her watch-tower of observa-
tion. Ignorance of the sun, of its character,
and of the methods by which its functions are
performed, must be confessed ; notwithstand-
ing all the more recent unfoldings and imag-
inings of scientists, regarding the great orb.
But yet we are very hopeful of vast increase
in our solar knowledge ; not alone, or chiefly.
by new observations, or discoveries, but quite
as much by new interpretations of old, long
observed phenomena. The ground of hope-
fulness lies in the belief that a grand unity
underlies, and binds together in one, all Phys-
ical Forces, as well in earth and sun.

While regarding the sun as all, and more
than all that has ever been claimed for it, still
we are impressed most strongly that the sun
has social relations with his planets, which
have never been duly considered by the
masters in science. The sun acts, but it must

Mutual Relationship of Sun and Earth. 19

also be that the earth and planets react. The
sun gives and dispenses favors, but science
has too much overlooked the great fact that
the sun receives and sympathizes.

Let our philosophy but accept the idea that
the sun rouses the earth into action throiigh
their mutual relationships ; that the two in-
terchange good offices and essential services,
rather than that the sun is wholly independ-
ent, and simply gives outright, as philosophy
has hitherto conceived, and we think that the
dawn of a better day has come.

The new philosophy, in our opinion, will
teach that the sun gives in such a way that
he will not be impoverished ; that though
bountiful, he is not wasteful ; that though he
freely gives, yet that he also as freely receives
in return.

The new philosophy will be true to corre-
lation, and it will be true to conservation
as well.

CHAPTER II.

WHAT IS PROPOSED.

IN the following pages I shall endeavor to
set forth, in a simple and orderly manner, cer-
tain of my own theories of the Great Physi-
cal Forces.

In these theories will be comprised the
identity of those forces, the intimate and es-
sential nature of sunlight, sun-heat, gravity,
sun-spots, winds and sounds, also the inti-
mate nature of the atmosphere.

In treating these subjects my opinions will
not be found in accord with those which re-
ceive universal assent at the present time,
and I may thus unintentionally offend. I
shall therefore claim exceeding indulgence.

If I differ from high authority, I have not
a thought of detraction. None can venerate
the NESTORS in science who have enriched its
annals, more than I, and though we reverse
their judgments, their errors are confessedly
our indispensable helps and guides.

Advances in Physical Science. 21

The Great Problem.

The problem of the great physical forces
has engaged the profoundest attention of
mankind from the earliest historic period
down to the present time, yet it remains
practically unsolved.

Before the Christian era the opinion was
entertained that all of the phenomena of
nature might be reduced to one principle of
explanation ; that there was more than a con-
nection between the imponderable agents —
more than a relationship even, — that there
was an actual identity.

No substantial progress was thereafter
made in the direction of verifying this theory
until along into the present century, when the
development of electrical science presented a
tangible basis for successful investigation.

The correlation of nearly all of those for-
ces is now assured, leaving little to be added
besides gravity to complete the unity. Yet
notwithstanding the satisfactory progress
which has been made in solving the grand
problem of their correlation, little has been
learned of their intimate nature, and the
method of their operation. This is due, in
the highest degree, to certain theories which

22 New Theories of the Great Forces.

were developed, and which made their way,
pari passu, with the advancements of elec-
trical and electro-magnetic science. These
theories, specious, inconsistent, illogical, yet
withal plausible, and even fascinating, served
to blind the mental vision so that mankind
might not appreciate the truth.1

The hypothesis promulgated by BRUNO,
KANT and LAPLACE, of the nebular origin of
the spheres, and the deductions consequent
thereupon, in regard to the progressive
stages through which the earth in its devel-
opments has passed, was pernicious in its in-
fluence in diverting the minds of investigators
from other and truer channels. To the blind
confidence with which that hypothesis has
been universally accepted and perpetuated,
and to the fallacious theories thus directly and
indirectly engendered, we owe our false posi-
tion at the present day.

The present theories of the transmission
of light and sound ; of the production of
winds, and sun-spots, and of the method of
development and dissemination of heat, are
in point of fact, unphilosophical and incom-
prehensible.

1 Appendix, p. 97.

Present Data Sufficient. 23

It is quite remarkable that in the present
century, excelling as it does any period in the
world's history in exact and reliable scien-
tific knowledge, such unsatisfactory opinions
should obtain. The failure is still more in-
explicable when we reflect that these sub-
jects are in importance the highest which can
engage our attention as scientists.

We have at the present time sufficient
reliable data whereon to found satisfactory
hypotheses. We have but to utilize the
means which the true scientists of the cen-
tury have so wonderfully developed, and
with which they have so prodigally sur-
rounded us, in order to complete the consum-
mation of the great and crowning achieve-
ment in physical science.

CHAPTER III.

THE GREAT FORCES, THEIR CHARACTER AND
OPERATIONS.

I NOW ask, What is the intimate and in-
herent nature of those forces ? Do they, or
either of them, belong to the domain of the
supernatural ? Are they the products of
some supreme force, or forces, heretofore
unappreciated ? The reply is clear and un-
questionable. The supernatural must neces-
sarily be a part of the Divine Essence, and
consequently intangible. Not so the sub-
jects of our inquiry. They are natural pro-
ducts, therefore, and the result of the opera-
tion of some power commensurate with the
stttpendousness of their manifestations.

Sunlight and Sun-heat.

In the forces, light, and heat, what immen-
sity of power is represented ! Strangely
enough we have ever imagined these forces
to be the unaided work of the sun, as though
that luminary could be capable of sending

The Law of Conservation. 25

forth in undiminished exuberance, such mar-
vels of force, during all the ages, and remain
itself unexhausted !

The Great Law of Conservation of Force.

But how speaks the law of conservation,
that law most enduring, and most inexora-
ble ? According to the decrees of that law,
whatever is received by the earth from the
sun, an equivalent for the same must again be
returned from the earth to the sun, to the
uttermost fraction.2 Such being the condi-
tions, how may this retro-acting process that
all analogy and the profoundest scientific
axiom prove to be in constant operation-
how, I ask, may this retro-acting process be
explained ? What equivalent may the earth
give back as compensation for such enormous
benefits, for such stupendous powers ? The
laws of conservation may not be violated :
the earth will respond.

How are the Spheres constructed?

The constitution of these two retro-acting
spheres, and consequently of all the others of

2 Appendix, p. 98.

26 New Theories of the Great Forces.

the heavenly host,3 at this point demands
our attention. How are the spheres made
up ? How speaks the earth ? The earth
with which we are familiar — our sample — is
formed of a slight crust, a core, to a greater
or less extent and degree incandescent, and
measuring 250,000 millions of cubic miles in
dimensions, also an envelope which we call
the atmosphere.

Now, from the presence of the vast mass of
incandescent material within the enclosure of
each sphere-crust, it may reasonably be in-
ferred, nay the very nature of human reason
compels the decision, that they are placed
there for some specific purpose, and that their
operations are commensurate with their im-
mensity.

We may not neglect to make account of
so vast an element, and so vital and prepon-
derating, in all globes.*

We are thus compelled to answer the
question, What part in the economy of na-
ture is this great central core particularly
fitted to perform ? What its function among
the great forces ?

3 Appendix, p. 99.

* The earth's core constitutes nearly -&% of its entire mass.

The Function of the Earth- Core. 27

The great problem of the age, which scien-
tists are intently engaged in solving, is the
correlation of the leading forces already ad-
verted to. Thus far light, heat, electricity,
magnetism, chemical action, vital action, co-
hesion, etc., have been proved to be parts
of one great whole. Now, since the espe-
cial characteristic of the great earth-core is
heat, it comes directly into relationship with
the forces mentioned. How then are its
forces expended ? Through what channels
do they manifest their presence ? The philo-
sophical mind would most naturally associate
with it the idea of stupendous magnetic
power. We may well suppose such a power
extending its influence through and beyond
the earth-crust, reaching out towards the
moon, and retro-acting with that body in pre-
serving their mutual relations.

Does not this mighty influence reach out
toward the sun also, and act conjointly with
that great central orb in producing results,
which to us, have ever been great myster-

ies.4

The Grand Magnetic Circuit.
In the retro-acting influence in operation

4 Appendix, p. 99.

28 New Theories of the Great Forces.

between these great bodies, may be found A
Grand Magnetic Circuit. In this grand
magnetic circuit is found the key to the whole
subject of the correlation and identity of all
the forces.

And now, as preparatory to using this key
that we may enter in and consider the inti-
mate nature of the physical forces, we would
be impressed with the clear and full idea of
this mighty current, which bears upon its
tide, as one, all manner of forces with which
we have to do.

It remains for us to tell what this great
current is, and what it does. To the child, to
the savage, and to the civilized man alike, it
comes first and pre-eminently as light.

CHAPTER IV.

SUNLIGHT.

Its Source and Nature.

SUNLIGHT is one of the products of that
grand retro-action which is incessantly in
operation between sun and earth, and is, in
its intimate and essential nature, a vito-mag-
neticyfe^jf* (or so-called magnetic). Subtle,
and apparently intangible, manifesting itself
rather as a presence than a real substance,
it fills all the space between the sun and
earth — which space may, with sufficient accu-
racy, be termed the solar cone or cone-space.

Its Limits.

Beyond the boundaries of the solar cone,
no light is.

* This term is employed as being most exact and comprehensive,
as this fluid is now known to be the source of all life and all at-
tractions.

30 New Theories of the Great Forces.

SOLAR CONE.

PI. I.

The Sun not Incandescent.

The apparent brightness of the sun is
owing to ihr -aggregation of the 93,000,000
of miles of this flbi^which is present be-
tween the sun and earm>e£-4e- our presence
in the great current of activity of the vito-
magnetic force. It is therefore not due to a
condition of incandescence at or near, that
body. It is cool and habitable, and emits no
light. The brightness of the intervening fluid
intercepts the view, and thus no one may
behold its body. Dark spots upon its face
disclose its true character.5

6 Appendix, p. 99.

To oe attached to page 31, "J?ew
and Original Theories of the G-reat
(Physical forces.''

Light and Heat.

BY HENRY RAYMOND ROGERS, M. D.

From the Buffalo Courier.

Scientists have practically ignored the
existence in nature of two distinct forms
of light and heat. This two-fold divi-
sion is clear and demonstrable, yet in-
vestigators in these fields have made too
little account of it in their reckoning.
The failure to recognize this fact has
been the source of errors and confusion
in our philosophy of these forces. The
two forms while possessing certain pro-
perties in common, have yet other pro-
perties quite dissimilar. Different in the
manner of their production and in their
effects, it is a question whether they are
not essentially different in their nature.

The first form, that of combustion
light and heat, is .dependent for its pro-
duction upon the combustive destruc-
tion of inflammable materials due to the
action of oxygen. Examples of this form
are the lights and fires of our homes.

The second form we term magnetic —
in the production of which oxygen has
no part. Examples of this form are the
magneto-electric and the dynamo-elec-
tric processes — the latter of which is
pre-eminently the topic of the day. The
peculiarity of this form is that light and
heat are not necessarily manifested at
or near the seat of production, but exist
potentially, their development as light
and heat being effected wherever the
proper conditions are provided. This
magnetic force, while permitted to flow
freely through a perfect conductor is
never developed into light and heat, but

is only converted into these forces as
the current encounters and overcomes-
resistance.

The operations of these two forms
are characteristically different. The for-
mer are feeble in power and are trans
m-issible to but short distances. They
act by continuity, and speedily diminish
in intensity as- the square of the distance
increases. The latter are transmissible
in any direction, and by any pathway,
and have scarcely any terestrial limits,
They are transported by wires over con-
tinents and beneath oceans, and many
miles of space have been traversed by
them without visible means of conduc-
tion. But, unlike the former, they do
not pass as sensible light and heat.

Their functions differ. The magnetic
form of light may be employed in photo-
graphy, and by it the various shades of
color may be discerned in the night sea-
son. In strength and brilliancy the
magnetic light alone resembles that of
the sun.

In our studies of these forces we have
been greatly impressed with :he similar
ity between the operations of the mag-
netic class and the productions of the
sun. This similarity naturally suggests
the question whether there is not good
reason to suppose that sunlight and sun
heat, as to their production, follow the
analogy of the superior process, rather
than the inferior, — that its action is
magnetic, rather than combustive.

Thip suggestion affords immense re-
lief. . If light and heat are regarded as
magnetic, we are apparently eased of
the^ great burden of finding adequate
supplies of material to keep up, and to
keep uniform, the vast conflagration sup-

posed to rage at the sun. Unquestion-
ably this has been a tax upon ingenuity
which neither we nor our scientific fath-
ers have been able to bear. If the
magnetic process be admitted, the loss
aii'l waste involved in the combustive
process, — enormous beyond computa-
tion, may possibly be relieved, and the
great law of conservation of force thus
jeopardized, even in the house of its
friends, may stiil be maintained in its in-
tegrity.

The demonstrations of our senses, as
well as the teachings of all the ages
based upon these demonstrations, lead
us to attribute to the sun the possession
of a most dazzling briilancy, and an
unlimited amount of heat. So it cer-
tainly appears ; and every hypothesis
that has ever had a hold upon the scien-
tific mind has been based upon that con-
ception. Yet the simple fact that the
earth receives its heat through the
agency of the sun is not conclusive evi-
dence that the sun is itself hot. On the
contrary it is well known that heat rap-
idly diminishes in the direction of the
sun; and at the altitude of con-
siderably less than two miles lies the
line of perpetual frost, the temperature
of space progressively lowering beyond
that point.

Standing as diametrically opposed to
the old methods of thought is the tact
that the sun is not inherently brilliant.
Beyond the lower portions of the at-
mospheric mass there is no dazzle.
Only a short distance upwards from the
earth at a point where respiration, by
reason of the rarity of the atmosphere,
becomes impeded, the human eye may
behold that great orb undazed.

Thus sun light and sun heat are shown
to resemble the light and heat which \ve
are able to develop through the aid of
our magnetic machines. The fact of
the actual production of the intensest
heat yet reached, through the agency of
mere motion, opens up to us a new
view of these great forces. As motion
applied to our dynamo-electric machines
is changed or converted into light and
heat, so also may sun light and sun
heat be the products of mere change,
of simple conversion of force instead of
the products of a measureless and cease-
less destruction. The element out of
which they are developed passes, as we
may suppose, through all space without
visible form or manifestation, as electric-
ity through wires, and without visible
means of transportation; as for example,
Prof. Loomis sent the magnetic current
from kite to kite, flown from Virginia
mountain-tops, twenty miles apart.
Moreover, as the "carbon point" or the
"platinum coil" is the necessary resist-
ance, the encountering of which de-
velopes the electric light out of our lit-
tle electric current, so may this earth's
atmosphere furnish the required resist-
ance out of the encounter with which
the great current of force from sun to
earth, invisible while passing through
vacant space, becomes manifest light
and heat. The analogy, to say the least,
is very striking.

Science at the present time admits of
four different explanations of the pro-
duction of sun-light and sun-heat, viz :

(1). Combustion of cosmical substan-
ces falling into the sun ; (2) arrest of
motion of such cosmical substances ; (3)

•contraction of the solar mass ; f4) dis-
sociation of compound bodies in the
sun's substance.

It will be observed that there is no
recognition here of the two f^rms of
light and heat; the sun is by all of them
made the manufacturing place of light
and heat, as well as the distributing re-
servoir, whence the whole solar system
is supplied ; not with the invisible, in-
sensible, potential, light and heat, to be
developed where required, but with these
actual forces.

The first hypothesis, that of "com-
bustion," is virtually given up by scien-
tists on account of its insuperable diffi-
culties. The fuel problem is too in-
tricate for the finite mind.

The second, the so-called mechanical
hypothesis, is held in greatest favor by
scientists to-day as best accounting for
the phenomena ; or as being least vul-
nerable to objections. This hypothesis
pre-supposes the presence in space of
an incalculable supply of ' ponderable
masses, all roving loosely and by chance,
until falling under the influence of the
sun they are drawn thereto with such
momentum that the concussion gives
rise to inconceivable light and heat. We
may, however, be allowed to question
whether the doctrine of chance can ac-
count for our exact and definite supply
of light and heat without excess or de-
ficiency. But such existence of ponder-
able matter, away from the influence of
gravity, moving about in the universe,
and assumed to follow the attraction of
the nearest stellar system, can hardly be
credited by philosophic minds.

It is incredible that such matter has
ever by any agencies escaped from the

power of gravity after having once been
under its influence. It may reasonably
be supposed that any body or substance
which would be capable of floating loose
in space must have its origin in some
sphere. It could not otherwise have an
existence; and having once formed the
part of some sphere, no power could de-
tach it from its surrounding and project
it into space, other than through disrup-
tion of the parent body. But the histo-
ry of science has furnished no evidence
of such disruption.

The insignificant manifestations, such
as aerolites, meteorites and meteors,
which bring with them nothing foreign,
should not be received as evidence in
the establishment of a philosophy. The
tame uniformity of those bodies, and
the slight inclination of their pathways
earthward, preclude their being classed
with external forces, ^irolites of im-
mense size are not unfrequently observ-
ed to pass in a direction almost horizon-
tal to the earth and in close proximity
to it, for hundreds of miles. This fact
is very damaging to the philosophy
which the phenomenon is claimed to
sustain.

In view of all the facts which
physical science presents, we are forced
to the conclusion that there are no for-
eign bodies or substances existing in
space ; that none may be found within
the range of our atmosphere, or which
may come within its range, which are
not of purely terrestrial origin.

The supposition that old useless
worlds, comets, meteors, etc., are at-
. tracted to the sun to be utilized for the
production of its light and heat, is con-
trary to every principle of reason and

sound philosophy, and is therefore un-
worthy of consideration.

The inevitable enlargement of the sun's
dimentions which would occur from the
accretions resulting from this method,
would also prove fatal to this hypothe-
sis. An exact knowledge of the sun for
centuries has not in the slighest degree
disclosed a change of radius in the
earth's orbit; a necessary consequence
of any change in the sun's bulk.

The third hypothesis, "the contrac-
tion of the solar mass," implying a pro-
gressive diminution of that body, finds
the same objections which lie against its
progressive augmentation.

The fourth, "the dissociation of com-
pound bodies in the sun's substance,"
depends upon the process of combus-
tion, (SECCHI. "Le Soleil"} and is there-
fore open to the objections already
named.

Each of the foregoing hypotheses
stands in direct opposition to the inexor-
able law of conservation of force. Ac-
cording to the decree of that law, what-
ever is received by the earth from the
sun, an equivalent for the same must
again* be returned from the earth to
the sun to the uttermost fraction. Each
recognizes the presence of a vast flood
of light, heat and magnetic force, (grav-
ity) incessantly issuing from the great
solar mass, and proceeding therefrom
with inconceivable velocity to the earth.
Yet neither makes provision for the re-
tro-acting, or returning force, which un-
der that law becomes indispensable.

No hypothesis based upon any other
foundation can stand.

Each assumes the actual and indis-
pensable presence of light and heat at

8

the surface of the sun, or in its envel-
ope, as elements in the solar economy.
But, inasmuch as heat does not come
from the sun as actual heat, and we
may suppose also that light does not
come as actual light, then there really
exists at the sun no necessity for the en-
ormous production there, such as these-
hypotheses demand.

Again, the prodigious destruction of
material claimed to be involved in the
production of light and heat at the sun,
and the expenditure of an inconceivable
amount of force in projecting the same
in all directions, and to all distances
into spare, are thus shown to be uncall-
ed for and therefore irrational.

The analogy between jour little mag-
netic batteries and the great sun batter\-
has a yet deeper significance. Our mag-
netic battery, in the process of develop-
ing light and heat, developes also an-
other force, that of attraction. Magnet-
ic light, heat and attraction, are thus
known to be products of one process.
Analogy suggests that attraction, or
gravity, in like manner is developed by
the great sun-battery, and is likewise an
integral constituent with sunlighfr and
sun heat. These great sun forces,there-
fore, may not be regarded as three dis-
tinct entities, but rather as different ef-
fects of one and the same action.

Thus the fact that the sun and
earth are gigantic fountains of magnetic
influence, continually acting and re-act-
ing upon each other, as is claimed by
the highest authorities in physical sci-
ence, gives to the phenomena now be-
ing considered their clearest and fullest
interpretations.

Dunkirk, N. Y., August, 1879.

COLD.

Its Relations with the So-called Phys-
ical Forces.

BY HENRY RAYMOND ROGERS, M. D.

That cold is simply "the absence of
heat" is apparently unquestioned by the
scientific world. Physical Science con-
sequently gives it no position as a pos-
itive force. Yet the manifestations of
the power of cold are many, and plain ;
taking on forms of exquisite delicacy, as
well as of stupendous magnitude and
power. It has, moreover, as distinctive
operations, and as clearly defined laws.
Cold should therefore take rank with
light, heat, electricity, magnetism, grav-
ity, etc. The recognition of this force
must introduce great light into science
in many of its branches.

The powers of cold are unquestioned.
The almost fabulous polar ice-fields
show its might, and the delicate fern-
like frost pictures upon our window-
panes, attest the presence of a real force.

To compare it with heat it is not less
active. Heat expands, cold contracts ;

heat drives the needle of the galvano-
meter in one direction, cold drives it in
the opposite. Cold equally affects the
senses. Cold is subject to the same
laws of reflection. Surely the absence of
something cannot be reflected from a
polished surface. Applied to water con-
fined within strong vessels, cold causes
the walls of the vessels' to burst asunder
by the expansive force of crystalization.
The marvelous power thus exercised
may not be attributed simply to the ab-
sence of heat, — a mere negative condi-
tion. The particles of water which
compose the icy crystals are arranged in
due order, and perform their functions
through the operation of a power not
less real than that of either of the great
forces.

Cold is generated by the solution of
certain bodies, as heat is, by the solu-
tion of others.

The power capable of disrupting and
disintegrating the earth's solid crust,
and of bridging a mighty river in a
single night, — the power which topples
down massive walls of masonry, can
hardly be regarded as a slight thing,
or a figment of the imagination.

Heat and cold, so opposite in their
effects, are, we believe, correlated as
truly as are the negative and positive
conditions in electricity. One may not
presume to say that either is mightier,
or more real, than the other.

The physical changes that give rise
to this phenomenon are not appreciated ;
hence cold is assigned a false character.
But heat is necessarily involved with it
in misunderstanding. The rectification
of the latter waits upon the recognition
of the nature of cold.

The sun is represented as an incan-
descent mass, inconceivably hot, with a
temperature rated at millions of degrees ;
yet heat diminishes in the direction of
the sun, and at a short distance from
the earth the temperature becomes in-
conceivably cold. Thus no particle of
heat reaches the earth, from that body, as
heat.

In like manner sun light, which is
subject to the same creative cause, and
the same method of transmission as
sun-heat, rapidly diminishes in the
direction of the sun ; — so rapidly that
the sun, at the elevation of a few miles,
looses its brilliancy, and may be viewed
with undazed eye.

The sun is therefore presumably cool
and dark, — not differing from the earth
-in its physical conditions and in its ha-
bitability.

The vastly important inference there-
fore.— an inference that must lie at the
bottom of all true physical philosophy,
is, that there is some great primordial
principle acting through the sun, and
which is so fitted to operate upon our
atmosphere as that it causes all neces-
sary forms of activity in air and earth.

These varied forms of activity, —
though we call them "the physical for-
ces" as if they were really distinct and
independent, and not but correlated
forms, — embrace certain peculiar activ-
ities which we term cold, as truly as oth-
ers which we call light, heat, electricity,
etc.

It is the constant recognition every-
where, of the great primordial principle
operating differently according as it is
differently conditioned, that must set us
into the right understanding of all phys-

ical changes taking place upon the
earth.

The mere absence of a force (i. e.
nothing) accounts for nothing.

In the new interpretations of the
great forces which must surely come,
and at an early day, cold will be awarded
a position more in accordance with its
deserts, — equal place among the recog-
nized forces.

When the immutable law of conser-
vation shall be applied to the investiga-
tion of those great forces, and shall be
made the criterion by which to judge
each one of them, its character, and
mode of operation, a new era in the his-
tory of science, and in the develope-
ment of human knowledge will have
been attained.

Dunkirk, N. Y., December, 1879.

Sunlight. 3 1

If, therefore, the sun be truly dark, the
brightness of its satellites cannot be caused
by light projected from its surface or sur-
roundings. How, then, may we account for
the light of the moon and planets, which do
not possess a light sui generis? A new
hypothesis is requisite. To frame this hypo-
thesis is not difficult.

The New Hypothesis.

Analogy teaches us that the earth is seen
from the moon and planets, even as they arp
seen from the earth. Yet there is nothing
upon the face of the whole earth which is
capable of reflecting the slightest amount oi
the sun's rays to those spheres. The fields,
forests, rocks, and seas, only absorb light,
they do not reflect it. In this phenomenon,
therefore, there is no element of specular
reflection. It consists rather of the lighting
up of the static vito-magnetic fluid of our
atmosphere, by the great solar current. The
atmosphere, thus vivified, discloses our pres-
ence to those orbs, and in like manner, their
presence to the inhabitants of the earth.

32 New Theories of the Great Forces.

No Borrowed Light.

The light of the planets is therefore in no
sense a borrowed light, since the action
which generates and transmits it, is purely
co-operative. Otherwise there could be no
light at the earth, or planets.

The Sun Dependent for His own Supply.

And, indeed, the sun possesses within him-
self alone no element of supply of his own
needed light and heat ; and in his immensity
and power is even dependent upon the cir-
cling orbs, for the quantity of each which is
indispensable to a condition of habitation.

The bodies of the planets are in like man-
ner invisible; we behold but the illumined
atmosphere of each sphere. Thus the moon
and planets, to be visible, must possess
atmospheres.

Light as a Substance.

That the thunderbolt is a substance may
not be questioned. That the aurora borealis,
or polaris, another form of vito-magnetic

Sunlight. 33

fluid, is a substance is not questioned. The
so-called heat-lightning, though apparently
intangible, must therefore be regarded as a
substance. Yet further in the remove we
find the zodiacal light. Sunlight is but the
same, in form of extreme tenuity. The thun-
derbolt passes from earth to cloud, and in-
stantaneously changes its substantial form to
one as tenuous as light ; yet, in the trans-
formation, this fluid has not lost its identity.
Though unseen, it continues to exist as mat-
ter.

Velocity of Light.

While ever present, light is being inces-
santly replenished ; its action being instanta-
neous. The calculations of ROEMER, founded
upon observations made through spaces of 382
and 568 millions of miles of distance, should
not be too confidently accepted, especially as
the results of such conclusions are so vitally
important. When we consider that with our
best telescopes directed towards the moon,
less than a quarter of a million of miles dis-
tant, nothing really satisfactory may be dis-
cerned, what value, therefore, may be attached
to statements founded upon such thoroughly
unreliable data ?

2*

34 New Theories of the Great Forces.

BRADLEY'S estimate of the velocity of light,
founded upon his study of " the aberration
of light," is even less worthy of consideration.

Any effort to measure such an inconceiv-
able velocity as that claimed for light, by any
means or appliances which may be devised by
human ingenuity, must be regarded as futile.
DESCARTES says : " Light reaches us instan-
taneously from the sun, and would do so,
even if the intervening distance were greater
than that between the earth and heaven."

CHAPTER V.

SUN-HEAT.

Its Source and Limits.

SUN-HEAT is another product of the same
retro-action between the sun and earth ; con-
sequently it has the same range and the
same boundaries as when it is viewed as
light.

Tendencies to unsettle in Science.

The scientists of to-day may well look after
the soundness of their favorite theories of
the great physical forces ; for the uncertain
tenure of old theories, by reason of recent
discoveries, is becoming but too manifest.
New phenomena are now observed which
require solutions not met by present hypoth-
eses. The nebular hypothesis which has so
long possessed the scientific mind has, by
the discovery of the moons of Mars, become
a thing of the past. According to M.
MAICHE, water is found to be no longer the
old-fashioned conventional oxygen and hy-

36 New Theories of the Great Forces.

drogen, but essentially a new element must
be considered in estimating its composition.6
Light is ascertained to be as veritable a sub-
stance as water. The sun is recognized to
be dark, cool, and habitable. Messages go
through the air from kite to kite ten miles
apart without visible agency. Telephonic
sounds leap from wire to wire through quite
ten feet of space.

Present theories of Supply of Sun-heat.

The present theories of the production and
dissemination of sun-heat, are simply accepted
for want of better, and not because they ac-
count satisfactorily for the phenomena.

The first and most prominent is the com-
bustion theory, which, though bearing the
seal of ages, is obnoxious both to common
and philosophic reasoning. This theory pre-
supposes a consumption of material beyond
all conception, and the supply of which has
been no small tax upon the scientific imagi-
nation. The source of this supply has been
claimed to be the subsidence of useless
worlds, and of asteroids, and meteors, show-

6 Appendix, p. 99.

Sun- Heat, 37

ered down upon its surface. Estimates have
been carefully made, and we are gravely in-
formed of the probable amount of combustive
material required to supply the sun's demands
for given periods. It is said that the coal-
fields of Pennsylvania, which would supply
the world's consumption for centuries, would
keep the sun's rate of emission for consid-
erably less than y,-^^ part of a second.
POUILLET estimated the quantity of heat
emitted by the sun per hour to be equal to
the supply of a layer of anthracite coal ten
feet thick, spread over the whole surface of
the sun.

The theory advocated by HELMHOLTZ, and
by many other scientists, of " the gradual
contraction of the solar orb," and that of
SECCHI, " the dissociation of compound bodies
in the sun's substance," are attempts after a
more consistent philosophy.

The foregoing theories pre-suppose the
sun to be a glowing fiery mass, from which,
in all directions, issue radiations of heat and
light into space. Of this enormous quantity
of radiated heat, the earth is supposed to

receive but ^<nnr,<hnr,<nnr Part-

MEYER observes : " A general law of
nature which knows no exception is the fol-

3& New Theories of the Great Forces.

lowing : In order to obtain heat, something
must be expended"

This combustion theory therefore calls for
an enormous expenditure of material for
generating heat and light, together with a
still further expenditure of force for project-
ing these into all space, at all distances.
All these theories are therefore inconsistent
with the immutable law of the Conservation
of Force.

The true Source of Supply.

In seeking the source of supply of heat and
light, we are compelled to look for a philoso-
phy more consistent than any hitherto ad-
vanced. Controlled too much by the literal
evidence of the senses and the superficial
appearance of things, we have ever regarded
the sun as ALL ALONE in developing and ex-
ercising these great forces.

The law of conservation compels us to look
to the earth, a heretofore neglected factor in
this problem. This factor being introduced
we shall find the problem to be wonderfully
simplified.

All space may rationally be regarded as
complete vacuum, thus presenting no resist-
ance nor obstacles to the free progress of

Sun-Heat. 39

the retro-acting elements. Distance is then
virtually annihilated, and Mercury, 37,000,000
of miles from the sun, and Neptune, 2,800,-
000,000 of miles, stand alike in their relations
with the great central orb.

The Earth's part in the Process.

The earth may no longer be regarded as
having a merely passive part to play. The
forces in operation as between the earth and
sun, are purely co-operative, and the one
precisely counterbalances the other. The
earth, therefore, must have a vis viva within
itself, capable of reciprocating in the organic
functions of the great vito-magnetic circuit.
We certainly know that it possesses a mar-
vellous wealth of resources. The following
are the most important of its sources of vis
viva.

i st. The great reservoir of vito-magnetic
fluid, the vast incandescent earth-core. The
presence and activity therein of mighty force,
— of heat, and motion, in the highest degree,
are abundantly shown by various terrestrial
phenomena. These phenomena, while per-
fectly familiar to observers, seem never to
have received any fitting interpretation.

4-O New Theories of the Great Forces.

2d. Motions and frictions of every kind ; *
the motions of the waters of the earth, the
great oceans, with their rolling tides sweep-
ing the whole circumference of the earth
twice in twenty-four hours, at a speed of one
thousand miles per hour ; with its frictions
upon itself, the bottom, and the shores ; its
great storms lashing it into fury, and its gen-
tler motions from lesser winds ; also the mo-
tions of all seas, rivers, and rain-falls.

3d. So all motions of the air, in form of
hurricanes, lesser winds, or zephyrs ; tear-
ing their way through forests, and hills, and
through space ; or causing gentlest flutter ol
leaflet. We have witnessed their goings
forth, but have neglected to calculate their
mission.

4th. All chemical actions.

5th. All combustions.

6th. All evaporations.

The earth is thus elaborating in all her
gigantic processes, the materials and forces,
which she furnishes in the great interchange.
How strangely have these great sources of

* In the motions of the spheres through space, unlike all other
forms of motion, there is no element of resistance. This form of
motion is therefore incapable of developing vis viva.

Sun- Heat. 41

vis viva remained practically unheeded until
the present time.

The Suns part in the Process.

The part performed by the sun may but
feebly be conceived.7 Within its vast pro-
portions (being 1,000 times as large as all
the planets combined) may be found every
element suited to all requirements.

We seek a new Philosophy.

The construction of a true philosophy of
the physical forces must depend now upon
our rightly understanding the modus operandi
of the conveyance, and utilization, of these
sun-elements, and the workings of this sun-
power.

The presence of a veritable flood of light,
heat, and magnetic force, as in motion from
the sun to the earth, has ever been recog-
nized. The line of greatest intensity of this
solar, or vito-magnetic current, is found along
the line of greatest diameters of those bodies.
The centre of this current reaches the earth
at, or near the equator.

7 Appendix, p. 100.

42 New Theories of the Great Forces.

It is a well-established fact that from the
equator to the poles a continuous magnetic
flood is ever in motion.8

In thus tracing the course of the magnetic
current from the sun to the equator, and
thence to the poles, a physical necessity,
made imperative by the inexorable law 01
conservation, indicates that a retro-current
from the earth back to the sun, must now
have part in the process. Should such be
the case, as all reason and philosophy affirm,
.we have a completed " Grand Magnetic
Circuit!' in' and through which all physica*
phenomena have their origin. But aside
from the logical necessity, we hold that there
are terrestrial phenomena, which, rightly in-
terpreted, point to just such a retro-acting
inter-communication.

Old Phenomena, and new Interpretations.

The phenomenon, the aurora borealis, or
polaris, has never been satisfactorily ex-
plained. It is acknowledged as purely mag-
netic in character, and to be due to the pas-
sage of currents upward from the earth. It

8 Appendix, p. 100.

Sun-Heat. 43

has received the regard due to a mere nega-
tive though brilliant exhibition, whereas the
character, extent, and significance of its mani-
festations should have caused it to be greeted,
and studied, as the index of the operation of
very positive cosmical functions.

HUMBOLDT regarded this process as "the
restoration of a disturbed equilibrium ; " and
so indeed it is, but it is an equilibrium, not
simply as between the earth, and atmos-
phere. Various observers have estimated
the altitude to which the aurora sometimes
reaches, at from 80 to 265 miles. The fact
that the bulk of the atmosphere reaches but
three miles above the earth's surface, forbids
it to be regarded as purely a terrestro-atmos-
pheric phenomenon.

While viewing the more striking and bril-
liant exhibitions of the aurora, the more un-
demonstrative and by far the most impor-
tant and vital operations have been disre-
garded. The former may not be observed,
except occasionally, and fitfully, can only be
present when favoring meteorological condi-
tions admit of its disclosure. The latter,
more unobtrusive and even invisible to the
naked eye, are incessantly, and at all seasons,

44 New Theories of the Great Forces.

in action, by day as well as by night.9 May
not this auroral display then be regarded in
a measure as confirmatory of what the law
of conservation had already suggested to us ;
the existence of a retro-current ?

Well understood Processes in Confirmation.

The suggestion of a simple, adequate, and
perfect theory is given us by an ordinary
electro-magnetic battery. Let the conducting
wire from such a battery extend half around
the circumference of this globe. It is appar-
ently as quiet and dormant as is our earth ;
yet in. those cold plates, solutions, and wire,
there lie the hidden elements of heat, light,
and power. At the distant extremity of the
wire, when not connected with the earth, we
may have none of the manifestations of heat,
light, or attraction — even though the plates
are put into the solution. But let us now
make the connection between the extremity
of the wire and the earth, then the circuit is
complete, and heat, light, and attraction are
disclosed in highest degree.

Now from the Great Sun Battery™ in
which we locate the one Great Universal

9 Appendix, p. 101. 10 Appendix, p. 102.

Sun-Heat. 45

Force: New tons "Higher and Still Un-
known Force" every one recognizes a cur-
rent constantly present, setting towards the
earth. That current is recognized as bring-
ing us our light and heat. But without a
retro-current, should we have a circuit com-
plete ? Should we have any of these phe-
nomena?

Heat without Combustion.

Neither in the battery nor near the bat-
tery do the phenomena manifest themselves.
Though the developer of light, heat, and
power, the battery itself is neither luminous,
hot, nor magnetic. "To explain the effects of
the sun, therefore, there is not the least rea-
son to infer that it is itself luminous, or even
warm. Potential action generated in a dark,
cold body, may produce great heat and light,
at a distance from the seat of activity ; and
what is thus wrought artificially in a small
way may surely be done naturally in a tre-
mendous fashion by the grand forces of the

sun."

Inter-currents.

It is now well known that a number of
currents may pass in each direction, at the

46 New Theories of the Great Forces.

same time, over one and the same telegraph
wire ; and in like manner, great solar cur-
rents may pass to and fro without interference.

Solution of the Problem.
Sun-heat, therefore, like sunlight and grav-
ity, is a veritable production, yet it is not
due to the process of combustion. It is not
dependent for its creation upon the destruc-
tion of fabulous quantities of substantial ma-
terials. The rather does it originate in, and
is it disseminated through the vast energies
of spheres retro-acting upon spheres through •
out the whole universe of matter.

CHAPTER VI.

THE SEASONS.

Why their varying Temperature ?

THE usual explanation of these phenomena,
i. #., the influence of direct and oblique sun-
rays, has ever seemed insufficient and unsatis-
factory ; especially in view of the. fact that
the heat comes not from the sun by continu-
ity after the manner of progression as from a
heated body.

A philosophy more exact and consistent
may be found in the development of the
theory already advanced, and which is illus-
trated in the following plates.

The maximum of heat at the surf ace of the
earth bears a very constant and intimate rela-
tion to the line of greatest diameters of the
sun and earth. — PI. II. a.

Through this line the heat-producing func-
tions of these great spheres are in operation
in the highest degree.

48 New Theories of the Great Forces.

This line of magnetic, or heat activity,
consequently varies with the earth's move-
ments. On the 20th of June the flood of

SEASONS. —SUMMER.

PI. II.

summer heat overspreads the northern por-
tions of the earth ; the sun thence apparently
turns southward, and with its departure the
relations of the line of heat activity change.
The city of New York, which on the 2oth of
June is found nearest the centre of the solar
current (Plate II. b), is, on the 2ist of De-
cember, located at its greatest distance from
the line of magnetic or heat intensity

The Seasons.

49

(Plate III. b), where the heat-producing
forces are in operation in but low degree.

SEASONS.— WINTER.

CHAPTER VII.

GRAVITY.

Its Essential Nature, and its Source.

GRAVITY is not a separable entity, not a
power per se. It is but a production, and an
operation, of the same retro-action between
sun-core, and earth-core. This retro-action
gives rise to a stupendous magnetic circuit,
as described, in which both sun and earth be-
come the embodiments of magnetic force, or,
in other words, great magnets.11

The power thus developed is exercised in
preserving the relative positions of the two
bodies, and, on the part of the earth, as we
know, in drawing unto itself all objects within
its influence.

The same current, therefore, which lights
up our earth, and which gives to it its requis-
ite supply of heat, at the same time indues it
with the power of attraction.

11 Appendix, p. 102.

Gravity, 5 1

Thus is engendered that power known as
gravity, which has ever been acknowledged a
profound mystery beyond the comprehension
of man.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE ATMOSPHERE.

A Veritable Ocean.

THE great aerial ocean which we call the
atmosphere (at the bottom of which we live,
and move, and have our being), is even
more vitally important than has ever been
dreamed of in human philosophy.

Hoiv Constituted.

Its tangible constituents, such as clouds,
vapors, gases, are well understood ; as well
as the modifying influence of those atmos-
pheric elements upon what we call sunlight,
and sun-heat. But the intangible and vital
principle, or basis of the atmosphere, has in
a measure escaped recognition. This princi-
ple is vito-magnetic in its character, and may
be designated as static™ from its habit when

Yi Appendix, p. 104.

The Atmosphere. 53

in equilibrium, and also in contradistinction
from that vast flood of active fluid which fills
the solar cone-space.

Extent and Character of this Influence.

The whole globe and its surrounding at-
mosphere are vast reservoirs of this static
fluid. These, interacting freely through
continuity, virtually become one in their oper-
ations. As a constituent of the atmosphere
this fluid is nearly uniform in its proportions.
Its varying conditions, as positive, negative,
and neutral, form a marked peculiarity.
Changes from .one to another of these
conditions, over larger or smaller areas,
are affected with marvellous rapidity, and
with varying and sometimes with striking
results.

In the extremes of atmospheric tempera-
ture, this fluid is found to exist in the ex-
tremes of its positive and negative condi-
tions. The contrast is by some supposed to
exist in the seasons of winter and summer,
in proportions as 13 to i, (heretofore re-
garded as quantitive).

54 New Theories of the Great Forces.

Note the Functions of this Ocean.

This fluid is indeed the vital principle, up-
on which all life, animate and inanimate, de-
pends. The necessity for frequent respira-
tions is occasioned by the imperative de-
mands of the system for this agent. As be-
fore intimated, the mild and steady light
which illumines the earth in its day-season is
owing to the action of the active fluid of the
cone-space upon the static fluid of the at-
mosphere. The untempered force of the
former might not be endured. The pale and
steady light of the moon and planets is due
to a like reaction through the same agencies.

The relations which the present known con-
stituents of the atmosphere sustain to this fluid
may not at the present time be estimated.

Not yet fully Comprehended.

"Air," said SIR LYON PLAYFAIR, "is the
most familiar of substances ; the first with
which an infant becomes acquainted on en-
trance into the world, and in death, the last
to be given up ; yet, strange to say, its nature
and constitution have only become partially
understood within the past century, and even

The Atmosphere. 55

now scientific knowledge can only be re-
garded as on the threshold of the subject."

The novelty and the assurance of the con-
cluding lines of the above quotation would,
at a comparatively recent date, have excited
in the reader a great astonishment. We had
supposed that the constituents, and the func-
tions of our atmosphere were very well un-
derstood, that little, if anything, could be
learned by further investigation. Yet the
revelations which are now being made show
the assertion of SIR LYON PLAYFAIR to be
almost prophetic.

The vito-magnetic, the most important in-
gredient, has scarcely been referred to in any
formula of its constitution. This constituent
as previously stated, forms the bulk of the at-
mosphere, and upon it depends the principal
performance of its varied functions. More
vital than oxygen, without it life could not
be sustained for an hour.

Have we been Mistaken ?

The experiments of M. PASTEUR have de
monstrated that oxygen and light are not
essentials of life, as he developed life in the
dark, in an atmosphere of carbonic acid.

56 New Theories of the Great Forces.

New Light.

More recent discoveries verify the presence
of this comparatively unappreciated constitu-
ent.

The process of induction has ever been a
great mystery in electrical science. Magnetic
currents are known to act upon bodies in
close proximity without the intervention of a
spark, and to indue such bodies with mag-
netic force. This action, called induction,
has been supposed to be limited to short dis-
tances. This we believe to be erroneous. In
order that the inductive process take place, it
is only necessary to suppose some impulse to
be superinduced upon some pervading me-
dium. This medium we recognize in the
static vito-magnetic constituent of the atmos-
phere. Magnetic or electrical induction is
therefore nature's effort towards an equili-
brium. Newly-discovered phenomena show
that this process is carried on even at consid-
erable distances. To Prof. LOOMIS of New
Haven, Conn., we are indebted for experi-
ments which illustrate this fact. These ex-
periments show that magnetic communica-
tions may be made through ten miles of
space without the intervention of visible

The Atmosphere. 57

means of conduction. The employment of
wires is rendered unnecessary by reason of
the presence of the vito-magnetic fluid which
operates in restoring the disturbed equili-
brium. Magnetic currents are therefore not
essential to this phenomenon.

A wonderful exhibition of this power was
recently observed at Rochester, N. Y. In a
telephonic exhibition in this city, the musi-
cians were located in Buffalo, sixty-eight miles
distant. While PROF. JOHNSON was engaged
in preparatory practice during the afternoon,
the notes from Buffalo were distinctly heard
at the same time, in a city business office, at
some distance from the hall of exhibition.
Yet the wire used by the Professor, and that
employed in the private telephone, were at
no point less than ten feet apart. The same
phenomenon was observed during the prog-
ress of the exhibition in another locality,
the two lines still being no nearer than ten
feet to each other.

The Character and Virtiie of this Element
may not be Mistaken.

It is this vito-magnetic element, and not
some other ingredient, that renders the at-
mosphere so sympathetic, and responsive, to

3*

58 New Theories of the Great Forces.

the governing Force resident in the sun, and
in the earth-core. The atmosphere thus not
only furnishes the field of operation for the
manifold Force, co-operating between the sun
and earth, but is itself the medium and instru-
ment of the operations.

The vito-magnetic power under its Protean
forms, styled " Vital Forces," and " The Phy-
sical Forces," works in the atmosphere and
is the source of nearly all its phenomena. It
causes and directs movements in every pro-
vince of nature. Nothing else has so inti-
mate relations with animal and vegetable life
and growth. It may be considered as consti-
tuting the inherent virtue of the atmosphere.

Among the varying manifestations in which
this agent is disclosed to us, within and be-
yond the atmosphere, may be enumerated
the following, viz. : i, Linear lightning ; 2,
Ball lightning ; 3, The flash with reverbera-
tions ; 4, Heat lightning ; 5, Aurora ; 6,
Frictional or mechanical ; 7, Magnetic ; 8,
Vital ; 9, St. Elmo's Fires ; 10, The exag-
gerated wave which bears destruction in its
pathway; n, That disclosed by rain, hail,
snow, and fog; 12, Sunlight, and sun-heat;
13, Static, or atmospheric; 14, Zodiacal
light; 15, Corona, etc., etc.

CHAPTER IX.

WINDS.

Entertained theories Erroneous.

THE mere mechanical theory which regards
the atmosphere as a loose mixture of gase-
ous materials, and the winds as mere mechani-
cal disturbances within it, misses its real inti-
mate nature and is insufficient. But once
conceive the atmosphere as arranged like a
perfectly adjusted instrument for the meeting-
place and co-operation of sun-force, and earth-
force, where are elaborated all the benefits
designed for our mundane creation, and we
begin to look for better explanations.

Their true Character.

What we call the wind is mediately the air
moving but causatively, and immediately, and
more profoundly, it is the action of the vito-
magnetic fluid. // is therefore a purely mag-

60 New Theories of the Great Forces.

netic phenomenon. In the interplay of that
subtle, all-pervasive fluid, is found the key to
the theory of the winds. Hurricanes, cy-
clones, tornadoes, zephyrs, etc., are manifes-
tations of its operations. These phenomena
imply the existence of a force at times stu-
pendous, and at times so gentle as simply to
move a leaflet.

This power in full magnitude may spring
instantaneously into action ; and it may, too,
as instantaneously cease. It may suddenly
drive a body of air at the rate of one hun-
dred miles per hour, and as suddenly arrest its
progress. The air having no inherent pro-
pulsive powers, that originate and control its
directions, velocities, and varied forms of
movement, is yet subject to definite laws.
What these laws are has never been di-
vulged.— " The wind bloweth where it list-
eth." Yet in viewing earth and atmosphere
as vast reservoirs of vito-magnetic fluid, shift-
ing back and forth to maintain an, equilibrium,
we believe we see the workings of the very
force which moves and sways the atmos-
phere ; which causes its currents, both gen-
eral and special ; and which gives rise to all
its more extraordinary and unaccountable
phenomena.

Winds. 6 1

What gives rise to the Currents.

The changes in the magnetism of the earth
and atmosphere give rise to these currents.
They are developed in various forms. The
following may be mentioned as the most im-
portant.

i st. The general and widespread pertur-
bations, occurring within the body of the
earth, and implicating immense areas, even
whole continents.

2d. The interruptions of continuity of the
solar currents as in the phenomena called
sun-spots. These changes, to whatever cause
due, are capable of disturbing the terrestrial
magnetic equilibrium over varying areas, and
of working instantaneously.

3d. The effects of the interruptions of the
sun's rays through the medium of clouds.

4th. Purely local vito-magnetic, or electri-
cal, actions occupying smaller or larger

areas.13

That the origination, suspension, and con-
tinuation of these movements, in all their
forms are due to purely vito-magnetic force,
we think demonstrable. Thus, no other can

13 Appendix, p. 105.

62 New Theories of the Great Forces.

act so instantaneously, none with such varied
exhibitions of power, and none so widespread
in their development.

In the movement of a body of air, the
space previously occupied by that body must
be resupplied by another of equal volume.
This resupply may not necessarily be derived
from the circumambient atmosphere as here-
tofore supposed. In some instances the
resupply is derived in but slight degree from
that source, but rather from that great reser-
voir, the earth ; as in the instances of whirl-
winds and tornadoes.

Philosophical Considerations draivn from
Observation.

FLAMMARIAN says : — " We know that a
whirlwind is a column of air which turns upon
its own axis, and which advances compara-
tively slowly, for, as a rule, a person can keep
up with it at a walking pace. This whirling
column of air is both caused and set in motion
by electricity. "

If whirlwinds are caused and set in motion
by electricity, why may not all other forms of
wind be productions of the same force ? PEL-
TIER has established both by numerous facts

Winds. 63

and by a series of ingenious experiments,
that the waterspouts of the land and sea are
electrical phenomena.

This had been suspected by BECCARIA a
hundred years before.

The hurricane which occurred in the Bar-
badoes in 1831, was the most remarkable on
record. In the actions of the hurricane and
the electrical displays, there was abundant
evidence of cause and effect.

The lightning for hours played in flashes
and forked darts, and moved frightfully be-
tween the clouds and the earth, with a most
surprising action, and the earth was felt to
tremble. The moment this singular alterna-
tion of the lightning passing to and fro ceased,
the hurricane burst forth with a violence
which exceeded all that had yet been ex-
perienced. The winds blowing with appall-
ing velocity, changed their course frequently
and almost instantaneously, occasionally abat-
ing but only to return in gusts from S. W.-W.
and N. W. with accumulated fury.

These alternations of wind and violent
electrical phenomena, were something more
than coincident, more than a casual connec-
tion. Here we observe a manifest inter
dependence.

64 New Theories of the Great Forces.

In another hurricane, "the wind blew
about twelve hours with the utmost fury from
the N. E. and then, in an instant, perfect calm
ensued for an hour, then, quick as thought,
the hurricane sprang up with tremendous
force from the S. W." No other power
known can suspend and put in motion, in
opposite directions, such marvellous velocities
and so instantaneously.

A remarkable phenomenon was exhibited
by a hurricane in 1837, and described by
CAPT. SEYMOUR of Cork. "For nearly an
hour we could not see each other nor any-
thing else, but merely the light, and most
astonishing, every one of our finger-nails
turned quite black and remained so nearly
five weeks afterwards. This fact may be
classed among other proofs of the agency
of electricity in the production of hurri-

canes."

The following facts are entirely inconsistent
with usual methods of explanation of the
cause of winds: "The entire atmosphere, to
the altitude of many thousand feet, is con-
stantly traversed by numerous horizontal
currents of air, flowing in different directions
and at different heights."

" The course of a balloonist was altered no

Winds. 65

less than five times in the space of fourteen
hours. " The aeronaut GREEN, at the height
of 14,000 feet, encountered a current that bore
him along at the rate of five miles per hour,
but upon descending to the altitude of 1 2,000
feet he met a contrary wind blowing with a
velocity of eighty miles an hour/'

The vito-magnetic fluid is capable of be-
coming amassed, condensed and rarefied. In
the tornado that happened at Natchez, in
1840, the houses exploded whenever the
doors and windows were shut, the roofs
shooting up into the air, and the walls even
of the strongest buildings bursting outward
with great force.

On the 1 8th of June, 1839, a whirlwind
fell upon the village of Chatenay, near Paris.
In the room of a house over which it passed,
several articles of needle-work were lying
upon a table. The next day some of them
were found in a field at a distance from the
house, together with a pillow-case taken from
another room. They must have been carried
up the chimney by the rush of air outwards,
as every other means of exit was closed.

It is a fact well-known to miners that dur-
ing and before violent tempests, strong as-
cending currents are observed.

66 New Theories of the Great Forces.

If a metallic rod terminating in a point be
attached to the conductor of an electrical ma-
chine, electricity escapes in large quantities
from the point. A continuous current is thus
kept up and the flame of a taper, if placed in
front of the current, is blown in a horizontal

MANUFACTURED WIND.

PI. IV.

direction. Wind is thus manufactured on a
small scale. PL IV.

At a recent meeting of a Meteorological
Society in England, a paper was read by
the REV. JOSEPH CROMPTON, M.A., F.M.S.
" The author, when walking close to the
Cathedral of Norwich, was struck with the
unusual fluttering of the flags on the top of

Winds. 67

the spire, which was 300 feet high. They
were streaming with a strained, quivering
motion perpendicularly upwards. A heavy
cloud was passing overhead at the mo-
ment and as it passed, the flags followed
the cloud and then gradually dropped into
comparative quietness. The same phenome-
non was noticed several times. As the cloud
approached, the upper banner began to feel
its influence and streamed towards it, against
the direction of the wind, which still blew as
before, steadily on all below. As the cloud
came nearer, the vehement quivering and
streaming motion of the flags increased ; they
began to take an upward perpendicular di-
rection into the cloud and seemed almost
tearing themselves from the staves to which
they were fastened. Again as the cloud
passed, they followed it as they had previ-
ously streamed to meet its approach, and
then dropped away as before, one or two
actually folding over their staves. All the
other flags at the lower elevation did not
show the least symptom of disturbance."
In this phenomenon we observe the operation
of two of the wind-producing causes just
mentioned, viz. : — a wind arising from purely
local causes, and of limited extent, occurring

68 New Theories of the Great Forces.

within the boundaries of a wind produced by
the action of more general, and widespread
causes — A wind within a wind.

The above instances plainly carry a sug-
gestion of magnetic origin and power.

Winds may notarise from Presumed Causes.

If winds are due to such a simple mechani-
cal causation as the production by the sun,
of a rarefied atmosphere, the colder air
rushing in from all sides into the empty
spaces, we should hardly expect to find any
definite currents bounded by well-defined
limits ; much less should we look for trans-
verse and opposite currents going like mes-
sengers at varying rates of speed, some slow,
and others exceedingly swift. Nor may
stronger gales suddenly cease, as though
stopped by some mighty invisible wall. And
in no wise can they, from mere calorific agen-
cies, leap out of perfect calmness into hurri-
cane velocity, or subside into silence as by
magic. On no such principle can they shift
back upon their own track, going either way
with terrific velocity.

Winds. 69

A Great Cosmical System.

We have seen the marks of electrical ac-
tion in the cases cited, and since we know
something of the subtlety of the agent ; that
it may be "amassed, condensed and rare-
fied," that it is not loose and wandering, and
the mere plaything of fortuitous forces, as
the atmosphere is supposed to be ; but, on
the contrary, has close and most sympathetic
adjustment with the earth-force ; and that it
is the invisible hand that holds and manages
the grosser atmospheric matter; since we
know this, we are now brought to the study
of a great cosmical system.

CHAPTER X.

SUN-SPOTS.

Grave Doubts.

HERBERT SPENCER says : " At present
none of the interpretations of the sun-spots
can be regarded as established."

How numerous and how strange have
been the theories promulgated as to the
character of the manifestations called sun-
spots. The dark spots in the sun have been
supposed to be " solid bodies revolving very
near its surface," * " Smoke of volcanoes ; "
" Scum floating upon an ocean of fluid mat-
ter ; " " Clouds ; " " Opaque masses floating
in the fluid matter of the sun, dipping down
occasionally," " Fiery liquid surrounding the
sun which, by its ebbing and flowing, the
highest parts of it were occasionally uncov-
ered, and appeared under the shape of dark
spots, and by the return of the fiery liquid,
they were again covered, and in a manner
successively assumed different phases ; " " In-

Sun-Spots. 71

terruptions of continuity in the bright envel-
opes immediately surrounding the sun,"
''Cavities " etc.

Overestimate of the Degree of Spot- shadow.

Public sentiment in regard to the degree
of darkness which is disclosed in sun-spots
is exceedingly erroneous. It is believed that
the spots are really dark. ZOLLNER, however,
states that " The black umbra of a spot emits
four thousand times as much light as that de-
rived from an equal area of the moon."
" The blackest part of the spot is intrinsically
bright."

What They are not, and what They are.

These phenomena may not arise from dis-
ruptions taking place on the sun's surface,
neither from violent agitations near that sur-
face. The essential and intimate character
of the so-called sun-spots may be found in
the interruptions of continuity in the fluid
occupying the solar cone-space. This fluid
which we call sunlight intercommunicates
between the entire opposing surface of sun
and earth, unless interrupted by some tempo-
rary cause. Any cause which is capable of

72 New Theories of the Great Forces.

producing results of such character and mag-
nitude can only act by more or less com-
pletely interrupting the development or
transmission of this fluid.

The result of such action would be dis-
closed to us by a decreased brilliancy in the
direction of the sun. The so-called sun-
spot would be in character, magnitude, form,
and shade proportionate to the extent and
character of the disturbing force. The per-
manence or evanescence of the spot would
indicate the sun or earth as being the locality
of such derangement. The more permanent
form being developed at the sun, and the
more ephemeral at the earth.

Any forces in operation at the earth which
might interfere with the intercommunication
of light, would lessen the brilliancy of the
light, at the earth -extremity of the cone-
space ; and the deficiency thus produced
would disclose to an observer at the earth
all the appearances of a spot upon the surface
of the sun. The so-called spot, thus produced,
might therefore not be regarded as a verita-
ble spot upon the sun's disc, but rather as an
optical illusion.

Sun-Spots. 73

They are Caused by Magnetic Perturba-
tions.

What may be the forces in operation on
the part of the sun, and earth alike, which
may so interfere with the development or
transmission of light through the solar cone-
space ?

The condition of the contents contained
within the enclosure of the sun-crust and
earth-crust, is presumably one of unrest ; its
actions varying from repose to the most vio-
lent agitation, with a tendency to the cyclonic
in its motions. Although the earth-core may
not be presumed to be an entire moving
mass, yet it is known to be in a measure in-
candescent, and molten. Magnetic storms
occur within our earth-crust which sway the
needle without, and almost instantaneously
manifest their presence over areas of more
than half the globe. The same phenomena
are undoubtedly present in increased devel-
opment at the sun.

We may therefore with reason suppose

that perturbations, however produced, occur

within those spheres, of such an extent and

character as might be a sufficient cause of

4

74 New Theories of tlie Great Forces.

the interruption of development, or of trans-
mission of that fluid.

Inconsistency of the Present Accepted Phil-
osophy.

The ephemeral or evanescent character of
many of the so-called sun-spots, removes
them from the domain of sun-phenomena,
otherwise than in appearance.

Figures that are Deceptive.

Some of these spots even of large dimen-
sions come into the field of view almost in-
stantaneously ; and as suddenly disappear.
Thus KRONE "observed a spot of no incon-
siderable dimensions which sprang into exist-
ence in less than a minute of time/' DR.
WOLLASTON says : — " I once saw with a two-
inch reflector a spot which burst in pieces
as I was looking at it." BIELA also notes
that " spots disappear sometimes in a single
moment." SIR WILLIAM HERSCHEL "turned
away his eyes from a group of spots he was
observing, and when he looked again the
group had vanished."

Of those who attempt to make an estimate
of these phenomena by mathematical formu-

Sun- Spots. 75

lae, we would ask, What velocities must these
sudden and apparently widespread outbursts
represent, if they take place at the sun ?

Effects of these WonderfiU Phenomena.

That this phenomenon is a result of an in-
terruption of the solar current is rational to
suppose. It is indisputable that the inter-
ruptions which produce these manifestations
have an important bearing upon terrestrial
phenomena. Winds, storms, vegetation,
healthfulness, are manifestly influenced, and
in a measure controlled by these perturba-
tions.

Mistaken Conceptions.

The claim of many scientists that spot
periods may be calculated, and classified,
possesses no element even of probability,
much less of fact, to sustain the supposition.
The evanescent character of many of these
spots places them beyond the sphere of sta-
tistical calculation.

May not be Tabulated.

Not even concerted and systematic inves-
tigation can insure reliable conclusions, for

76 New Theories of the Great Forces.

persons separated by even inconsiderable
distances would not always observe precisely
the same spot manifestations. Moreover, the
spots appear and vanish so quickly that no
correct estimate can be made at any single
locality. As well attempt to map and chart
the aurora borealis.

Unbiassed Estimate of their Character and
Location.

SCHEINER was one of the first who ever
observed these spots through a telescope,
and was therefore uncontrolled by theories
in his estimate of their character and loca-
tion. He held it " impossible that they
could be on the sun itself," and imagined
some of them to be "as far from the sun, as
the moon, Venus, or Mercury."

CHAPTER XL

SOUND.

Essential Character and Medium of Trans-
mission.

SOUNDS are products of vito-magnetic con-
ditions and changes. They result from ac-
tion or force expended upon the vito-mag-
netic element of the atmosphere. If such
action or force be directly expended upon the
air, or, more accurately, upon this vito-mag-
netic constituent of the air, it is propagated
in accordance with the laws that govern the
transmission of the vito-magnetic or electri-
cal fluid through the air. If it be expended
upon a lengthened wire, then, as sound, it is
transmitted according to the laws of magnetic
transmission through wire.

The recent experiments in connection with
the telephone have demonstrated the fact
that sound may be communicated through
hundreds of miles of space without occupy-
ing any appreciable length of time — in this
respect being precisely like the ordinary ac-
tion of the magnetic current. It is most

78 New Theories of the Great Forces.

philosophical therefore to conclude that it is
the same element that is concerned in both
instances. If we were to distinguish between
the actions of the telephonic wire and the
telegraphic wire we should say that there is
no difference in the medium of communica-
tion, which is in either case the vito-magnetic
fluid ; but that in the former the normal fluid
is affected simply, while in the latter an arti-
ficial and extraordinary amount of fluid is
induced so as to produce strong magnetic
effects. In the telephone wire we have an
affection of the fluid ; in the telegraphic wire
a pulsation, so to speak.

In the production of sound, vibrations
(erroneously called waves), have an impor-
tant agency, but they have no act or part in
its conveyance.

The varying intensities of sound, and the
distance to which it reaches, are in direct
ratio with the kind of force applied in its
production, the character of the resistance
offered and the medium of communication
employed.

CHAPTER XII.

SOME OF THE RESULTS . OF THE FOREGOING
THEORIES.

THE theories thus asserted may be re-
garded as exceedingly radical in their char-
acter. Their influence may not be fully es-
timated. Marvellous in extent are the ramifi-
cations which proceed from these sources,
and few are the subjects of human thought
and investigation which will not be, to a
greater or less degree, affected by their in-
fluence.

New channels of thought and investiga-
tion will be opened, and old theories which
now have the confidence of great minds and
great numbers, will quietly sink into oblivion.

The blank astonishment and incredulity
with which these theories will be received,
will soon be followed by acceptance, and the
world will wonder why these things have
been so long delayed.

If these theories be true, among the fore-
most and withal the most mischievous of the

8o New Theories of ike Great Forces.

old theories which will fall, will be that fig-
ment of the imagination — the Nebular Hy-
pothesis^ How strangely, and how strongly,
has that hypothesis maintained its ground,
even after nebulous masses have been resolved
into clusters of stars. If gravity be the result
of retro-acting forces, there could be no ele-
ment of attraction in the flimsy gaseous
particles whereby they might be drawn to-
gether. If gravity be the result of retro-
acting forces, then must those forces have
their existence somewhere. But where could
there be found in flimsy gases any such spe-
cial centres of force — any nuclei — from which
attraction might proceed in its work of form-
ing the spheres ? A starting-point is lack-
ing.

If these theories be true, the sun is formed
like unto the earth, and is cool, non-luminous,
and habitable. Incandescence not being the
condition of the sun or its surroundings ;
exhausted worlds, worn out asteroids, and
stray comets and meteors are not required
to keep up external fires.

If, therefore, incandescence be not a condi-
tion of the sun's surroundings, then surely

14 Appendix, p. *•£. <j ^

Results of the New Theories, 8 1

there may be no glowing metallic vapors, no
hydrogen, no iron, no sodium, no magnesium,
no oxygen ; those constituents of the sun en-
velope, so graphically described by the spec-
troscopists of the present day.

The origin of celestial spectroscopy was
as vague and unphilosophical as was that of
the nebular hypothesis. FRAUENHOFER and
KIRCHHOFF imagined certain things, and
straightway a great theory sprang into exist-

ence.15

Verily the " Scientific use of the Imagina-
tion " too often leads men into the grossest
errors.

If these theories be true, we may hereafter
ignore all undulatory processes. Time may
no longer be estimated in noting the trans-
mission of light and heat, since, like gravity,
each acts instantaneously. If the most dis-
tant fixed star which is visible could be an-
nihilated to-night, its light would be seen no
more forever.

If these theories be true, the recent mar-
vels of the age, the telephone, phonograph,
and their fast-multiplying brood find a satis-
factory and philosophical explanation.

16 Appendix, p. 106.
4*

82 New Theories of the Great Forces.

If these theories be true, the boast of the
Atheist, that God is wasteful and a bungler,
in that he wastefully scatters his sunlight,
and sun-heat, in all directions into space, is
set at naught. Nature has been misinterpre-
ted. No sunlight nor sun-heat is disclosed,
except in the direction of other spheres.

These theories throw new light upon the
character and extent of the atmosphere of
the moon and planets, and the consequent
availability of those and other spheres for sus-
taining life. The extent of the atmosphere
of each celestial body may be presumed to
be proportionate to our own. Analogy would
therefore teach us that those bodies, also our
sun, and other suns, are the abodes of in-
telligent beings.

If these theories be true, heat may no
longer be regarded as actual motion among
the particles of heated matter, neither may we
longer imagine the existence of hypothetical
upper trade winds.

If these theories be true, the part which has
ever been attributed to the sun as originator
and dispenser of light and heat, has been
overestimated. Every sphere contains within
its enclosure the source from which its own
supply is derived ; — a veritable storehouse,

Results of the New Theories. 83

which at one and the same time yields and
governs its requisite supply. The earth re-
ceives what is due to it, in the interchange
constantly taking place • and not an amount
which the sun may fitfully dole out.

In the character of the winds, and atmos-
phere as disclosed, what revelations ! What
floods of light will thus be thrown upon sub-
jects now mysterious !

CHAPTER XIII.

THE DIRECT INFLUENCE OF THESE FORCES AS
CAUSATION OF DISEASE.

IN its bearings upon the systemic conditions
which we term health and disease, this mys-
terious vito-magnetic fluid is of the highest
import. This great principle which fills the
earth and all spheres, and governs and binds
them together — this great principle which is
the source of all life, animate and inanimate —
this principle dominates in every vital system,
from man down through and beyond the
microscopic forms of existence.

The normal action of this principle in every
part of the human system constitutes health •
its abnormal action, disease ; its interruption,
death.

The human system is thus a delicately or-
ganized and exceedingly sensitive vito-mag-
netic machine, and is virtually kept in action

Etiological Influences. 85

through the operation of this principle. Any
condition, therefore, which may directly or
indirectly influence or disturb this principle,
may influence or disturb the actions of every
human organization.

In the search for causes of disease through-
out the ages, this field, so fruitful in material,
has been left almost unexplored. The dis-
closures of the early future will wonderfully
change the sentiments entertained in regard
to the cause of a large proportion of our dis-
eases. Meteorological influence, although
now comparatively ignored as a disease-pro-
ducing power, will ere long be recognized
not only as a power, but as the power,
far overshadowing all other influences com-
bined.

The character and extent of these in-
fluences are scarcely imagined. In estimat-
ing them the attention of the profession is
now mainly directed to thermometric and
hygrometric changes and conditions. These
form not the largest proportion of the per-
turbing influences constantly in operation
around us.

With the verification of the meteorological
theory of causation, more positive and ra-
tional ideas will prevail ; — obscurity will, in a

86 New Theories of the Great Forces.

measure, give place to clearer and more exact
perceptions of the character and relations of
diseases, and a corresponding efficiency in
treatment may be expected.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE ARTIFICIAL PRODUCTION OF LIGHT, HEAT,
AND POWER, AND THEIR UTILIZATION.

THE practical procurement of necessary
light and heat for our dwelling's, as well as
of necessary mechanical power for the world's
work in mills and factories, in some less ex-
pensive and laborious manner than through
vast consumption of wood, coal, and oil, is
believed to be now so close upon realization
that we may even call it unfait accompli.

The conversion of the momentum of rivers,
and of the power of cataracts, tides, and winds,
into vito-magnetic or electrical fluid ; the
transportation of this fluid to any locality
through wire or cable ; and its final transmu-
tation into light, heat, or mechanical force
sufficient for all work, are already demon-
strated as practicable.

There is no reason then why the Missis-
sippi should not be made to roll, and Niagara
to fall through our workshops, or even to im-

88 New Theories of the Great Forces.

pel our street-cars. They may as well work
as to be idle as they go.

But in all this, startling as it seems, man is
only imitating Nature in her every-day oper-
ations through sun and earth. Even the order
is similar. The sun* is the river giving its
constant impulse through the vito-magnetic
cable of the solar cone. The earth end of
the cable is adjusted by means of the atmos-
phere, for the production of light and heat
for this earthly habitation.

It indues the globe with magnetic influence
which we have called gravity. And in its
workshop, its mechanical and vital forces are
keeping up all motions in animal and plant,
earth, ocean, and air.

And thus light, heat, gravity, mechanical
power, electricity, magnetism, vital force and
universal motion, are but one principle vari-
ously expressed. This principle we have
designated vito-magnetic fluid. But have we
reached a climax and an end ? No. This
vito-magnetic river or current flows on. Its
flood is never stayed. But yet we find no
accumulation. Light and heat have neither
been piled up to the sky, nor have they be-
come annihilated. Their essential element
has only changed form, and proceeded on its

Light, Heat, and Power. 89

busy way, turning" earth into a magnet, vivi-
fying and operating all organisms, travelling
upon all currents, gathering up and utilizing
all the fragments and waste of its workshop,
transmitting and conserving its energy en
route to the poles. And finally, the same
element that signalized its entrance at the
earth? s more central regions AS HEAT, now
signalizes its departitre along earth s polar
extremities AS COLD.*

Nothing is lost. Such a mighty flowing
current cannot be stopped. If it rolls in we
may be assured that somewhere it will roll out.
And this is but THE GRAND COSMICAL CIR-
CUIT, already made mention of.

* We would not define cold as "absence of heat." Cold is
rather the opposite electrical condition to heat.

CHAPTER XV.

WHY WAS NOT THIS DISCOVERY SOONER MADE ?

IT may be asked, why should the discovery
of this great source of all the forces, vital and
physical, have been delayed to the present
time ? Master minds have been engaged
for ages in efforts to solve the wonderful
problem.

HERSCHEL, NEWTON, HUMBOLDT, FARADAY,
MOSSOTTI, and many others have held the key
almost within their control, and the consum-
mation has only failed of being" realized at an
earlier day by reason of the tenacity with
which the minds of men are held by precon-
ceived and pre-existing opinions.

SIR WILLIAM HERSCHEL regarded solar
and stellar light as the effects of an electro-
magnetic process.

NEWTON recognized all movements of the
cosmical bodies to be the result of one and
the same force ; u of some higher and still
unknown power" but luminiferous ether

Why not Sooner Disclosed ? 9 [

shaded his mental vision, and he failed to dis-
cern that power. In his investigations of
those great subjects he is led to ask, "Are
not the sun, and fixed stars, great earths,
vehemently hot ? "

HUMBOLDT said : " It is indeed a brilliant
effort, worthy of the human mind, to comprise
in one organic whole, the entire science of
nature, from the laws of gravity to the forma-
tive impulse in animated bodies ; " but the
preoccupation of his vast mind, and the hold
of pre-existing ideas, offered difficulties to the
solution of the problem. But, note the ap-
proximation of his ideas to those herein ex-
pressed, he said : " The sun, as the main
source of light and heat, must be able to call
forth and animate magnetic forces on our
planet." Unfortunately, however, he con-
tinues thus : " and more especially in the
gaseous strata of our atmosphere."

FARADAY, perhaps the most distinguished
man, in the whole of his own field, which the
world has ever produced, recognizing the
power of this great obstacle to true advance-
ment (i. e., preconceived and pre-existing
ideas), once said : " When such a one as my-
self gets out of the way, then new conditions,
new men, new views, new opportunities, may

92 New Theories of the Great Forces.

allow of the development of other lines of
active operation than those heretofore in
service." He believed in the existence of
one great universal principle, from which
gravity, heat, light, electricity, magnetism,
even life itself might come. He spent many
of his latest years in efforts to solve this great
problem, and on his failure he asked : " Is it
all a dream ? " He never, however, wavered
in his faith, and his last efforts were directed
to that end.

With prophetic vision, almost amounting
to prescience, he, in speaking of magnetism,
said : " When we remember that the earth
itself is a magnet, pervaded in every part by
this mighty power, universal and strong as
gravity itself, we cannot doubt that it is ex-
erting an appointed and essential influence
over every particle of matter, and in every
place where it is present.

" What its great purpose is, -seems to be
looming up in the distance before us : — the
clouds which obscure our mental sight are
daily thinning, and I cannot doubt that a glori-
ous discovery in natural knowledge and in
the wisdom and power of God in the creation
is awaiting our age."

Thus did those great philosophers so near-

Why not Sooner Disclosed? 93

ly attain to the goal of their highest earthly
aspirations, and only failed in the consum-
mation by reason of clinging to the existing
opinions of their age.

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX.

i. (Page 22.) " BRUNO, about the close of
the last century, giiessed the fundamental fact
of the Nebular Hypothesis, and Kant rea-
soned out its foundation idea, and LAPLACE
developed it." — CORRELATION AND CONSERVA-
TION OF FORCES.

We have learned to recognize on how very
doubtful a basis many of the received axioms
of physical science are founded. This hy-
pothesis has been received with much una-
nimity and has firmly held its sway. Yet,
" BRUNO guessed the fundamental fact," and
this figment of the imagination has, for nearly
a century, controlled the scientific mind. Its
paralyzing influences have affected other de-
partments of physical science, and true prog-
ress has been obstructed. The attempt to
describe minutely how the spheres were
formed millions of years ago is but presump-
tion.

5

98 New Theories of flic (ircat /v>;vr.v.

This hypothesis, from such an origin, un-
verified and unverifiable, is too weak to sup-
port the superstructure which has been erect-
ed upon it. This hypothesis discarded, it
may be presumed that the earth was never in
a fluid or iv holly incandescent state.

" It may be shown that all nebulae are
crowded stellar masses." — HUMBOLDT.

Action and Retro-action.

2. (Page 25.) " Considering the continued
activity of the sun through countless centu-
ries, we may assume, with mathematical cer-
tainty, the existence of some compensating
influence to make good its enormous loss."-
COR. AND CON. OF FORCES.

If the earth receives the benefits of this
activity, surely the " compensating influence "
must, in a like degree, go forth from the
earth to the sun. And, furthermore, if this
influence (whatever its character) may pass
in the one direction through space without
known or visible means of communication, re-
tro-action may be affected through the same
channel.

Appendix. 99

The Earth and all Spheres framed alike.

3. (Page 26.) " The earth belongs to a
system of planets analogous to itself, having
the same origin, the same destiny, situated
around the same centre and governed by the
same motive power."- FLAM MARIAN.

Mutual Relations of Earth and Sun.

4. (Page 27.) "A mysterious chain links
together the celestial and terrestrial forces.
According to the ancient signification of the
Titanic myth, the powers of organic life, that
is to say, the great order of nature, depend
upon the combined action of heaven and
earth."-— HUMBOLDT.

The Sun s Body Dark.

5. (Page 30.) "HERSCHEL'S fixed idea
was that the darkness of a spot was an indi-
cation of a cool habitable globe."

A New Theory of the Nature of Water.

6. (Page 36.) M. MAICHE, in Les Mondes,
propounds the theory, reached after numerous
experiments, that water is simply hydrogen
plus electricity, or oxygen minus electricity,

ioo New Theories of the Great Forces.

or, in other words, that normal electrified
hydrogen constitutes water, and that normal
diselectrified oxygen produces the same ; or
that hydrogen, oxygen, and water are pre-
cisely the same, differing only in degree of
electrification.

Sun-heat.

7. (Page 41.) "The sun, as the main
source of heat and light, must be able to call
forth and animate magnetic forces on our
planet/' — HUMBOLDT.

" It is an incontestable fact that the sun
exercises an action upon the magnetic phe-
nomena which are manifested upon our
globe." — SECCHI.

" What is certain is, that there ought to be,
between the sun and planets, a means of com-
munication of force, and the transmission of
movement/' — Ibid.

" The central body may, as a powerful
source of heat, excite magnetic activity on
our planet." — HUMBOLDT.

8. (Page 42.) " It cannot be doubted that
electro-magnetic currents exist in the interior
of the globe." — AMPERE.

" The internal heat of our planet is con-

Appendix. 101

nected with the generation of electro-mag-
netic currents." — HUMBOLDT.

"A large proportion of winter heat of the
poles comes through the equatorial current."

-YOUMANS.

Aurora

9. (Page 44.) " HOOD heard a noise as of
quickly moved musket-balls, and a slight
crackling sound during an aurora. He also
noticed the same noise on the following day."

" FATHER PERRY of the Stonyhurst Ob-
servatory remarked that the green spectro-
scopic line characteristic of the aurora, could
be detected even where the unassisted eye
failed to notice any trace of light."

"The fleecy clouds seen in Iceland by
THIENEMANN, and which he considered to be
the northern light, have been seen in recent
times by FRANKLIN and RICHARDSON, near the
American north pole, and by ADMIRAL WRAN-
GEL on the Siberian coast. All remarked
that the aurora flashed forth in the most vivid
beams when masses of cirrus strata were
hovering in the upper regions of the air, and
when these were so thin that their presence
could only be recognized by the formation of
a halo around the moon."

IO2 New Theories of the Great Forces.

These clouds sometimes range themselves
evin by day in a similar manner to the beams
of the aurora and then disturb the course of
tb£ magnetic needle in the same manner as
the latter. On the morning after every dis-
tinct nocturnal aurora the same superim-
posed strata of clouds have still been ob-
served, that had previously been luminous."

PARRY even " saw the great arch of the
northern light continue throughout the day."

" ARAGO was of the opinion that each ob-
server saw his own aurora somewhat as each
observer of a rainbow sees the luminous arc
differently placed."

The Great Sun Battery.

10. (Page 44.) If with a percussion cap
and a tear we may develop sufficient power
to deflect a magnetic needle 3,000 miles dis-
tant, what power may not be expected of the
sun, 1,250,000 times larger than the earth ;
the sun exercising a force of the same char-
acter?

Gravity.

11. (Page 50.) "PROF. MOSSOTTI has re-
cently shown, by a very able analysis, that

Appendix. 103

there are strong grounds for believing that
not only the molecular forces which unite "the
particles of material bodies depend ,£m the
electric fluid, but that even gravitation itsfcjf ,
which binds world to world, and sun to surv
can no longer be regarded as an ultimate
principle, but the residual portion of a far
more powerful force, generated by that ener-
getic agent which pervades creation." — FARA-
DAY.

" If gravitation is made to mean something
allied to magnetism, some poorly explained
phenomena become easily understood. But
what are the circumstances affording proof of
the identity of these forces ? First, gravita-
tion acts upon all kinds of matter; FARADAY
proved the same of magnetism. Second,
gravitation is attractive ; so is magnetism.
Third, gravitation is proportionate to the
mass ; the force of magnets also depends
upon the mass. Fourth, gravitation acts in
an inverse ratio to the square of the distance ;
so does magnetism. Fifth, gravitation does
not manifest polarity ; magnetism is known
not to do so. Sixth, gravitation acts inde-
pendently of bodies affording a resistance to
light and heat; so does magnetism." — CART-
WELL.

IO4 New Theories of the Great Forces.

FARADAY'S biographer says : — " He is op-
pressed with the magnitude and importance
of his subject, yet is stimulated by the fact that
the discovery which he aims for (the relation-
ship between gravity and electricity) would
have a bearing in importance far beyond all
conception in elucidating not only the facts
connected with these subjects, but also others
of a high importance. There being scarcely
a limit to the subjects which would be illumi-
nated by it."

11 Gravity, surely this force must be capable
of an experimental relation to electricity and
magnetism and the other forces, so as to bind
it up with them in reciprocal action and
equivalent effect."-— FARADAY.

KEPLER regarded gravity and heat " as
being probably derived from one single
principle."

" There is every reason for believing that
the radiations which constitute heat and light
are essentially the same."

" Gravity acts instantaneously."

Static Electricity.

12. (Page 52.) Speaking of static elec-
tricity, FARADAY remarks : " What an idea

Appendix. 105

of the ever-present and ever-ready state of
this power is given to us, when we consider
that not only every substance, but almost
every mode of dealing with substance mani-
fests its presence. It is not accidental at
these times, but active and essentially so,
and we may, in our endeavors to comprehend
it, usefully compare and contrast it with
gravity which never changes. There we see
that power which in undisturbed and solemn
grandeur holds equally the world and the
dust of which worlds are formed together,
and carries them on in their course through

o

illimitable space through illimitable ages ;
and in this other power, even in this our first
glimpse we see probably the contrasted force
which is destined to give all that vivacity and
mutual activity to particles that shall fit them
as far as matter alone is concerned, for their
wonderful office in the phenomena of nature,
and enable them to bring forth the ever vary-
ing and astonishing changes which earth, air,
fire and water present to us ; from the mo-
tion of the dust in the whirlwind up to the
highest conditions of life."

13. (Page6i.) An illustration of this form
of wind-production may be found in the fol-
lowing facts related by DR. GISLER, who for

io6 New Theories of the Great Forces.

a long* time dwelt in the north of Sweden :
" The matter of the aurora borealis some-
times descends so low that it touches the
ground. At the summit of high mountains
it produces upon the face of the traveller an
effect analogous to that of wind."

We should pronounce this effect to be the
production of a true wind of a circumscribed
or local character.

Solar Spectrum, its origin.

14. (Page 80.) PROF. KIRCHHOFF was led
to the study of a coincidence between the
bright yellow line given in an incandescent
sodium vapor, and the solar line " D," which
coincidence had already been noticed by
FRAUENHOFER. Upon applying a greater dis-
persive power he noticed that the line " D "
was a double one ; but so also was the sodi-
um line under these conditions. ' Moreover,
each line of the one coincided with each line
of the other. The suspicion became strong
that it was the sodium in the sun which
caused the " D " line. He then extended the
comparisons to other elements. He carefully
measured sixty bright lines in the spectrum
of iron ; and found every one of these sixty

Appen dix. \ o /

lines to correspond with a dark in the solar
spectrum.

The overwhelming probability of a com-
mon cause for both was forced upon him,
and by calculation he ascertained that this
probability was as one million million million
to one, in its favor." — LOCKYER.

ADDENDUM.

The great Solar Cone-space, in order to be
clearly marked to the eye, was represented in
Plate I, page 30, as white. This to some read-
ers may be misleading ; as this space when
viewed transversely is not luminous, — it is not
even visible. (PI. V.)

PI. v.

Outside of the atmospheric envelope of all
spheres, there is only "the black of infinite
space." *

Retro-action between the earth and visible
and invisible spheres, gives to the earth the
light which it possesses during the night-season.

* Flammarian.

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